AMERICAN PRIMERS Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

University Publications of America PRIMERSAMERICAN Guide to the Microfiche Collection Introductory Essay by Richard L, Venezky AMERICAN PRIMERS Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data American primers: guide to the microfiche collection/introductory essay by Richard L. Venezky. xxx + 146 p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-55655-203-3 (alk. paper) 1. Primers--Bibliography--Microform catalogs. 2. Textbooks--United States--Bibliography--Microform catalogs. 3. English language--Text- books--Bibliography--Microform catalogs. I. Venezky, Richard L. Z5818.E5A47 1990 [PE1119.3] 89-70532 016.4282--dc20 CIP University Publications of America AMERICAN PRIMERS Guide to the Microfiche Collection Introductory Essay by Richard L. Venezky UFA Staff Editor in Chief Paul L. Kesaris Executive Editor Eric J. Massant Senior Editor August A. Imholtz, Jr. Production Dorothy W. Rogers, Debra G. Turnell Communications Richard K. Johnson Design Alix Stock Microfilm Operations William Idol International Standard Book Number 1-55655-203-3 UPA An Imprint of Congressional Information Service 4520 East-West Highway Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3389 © 1990 by University Publications of America Printed and bound in the United States of America The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence CONTENTS Note from the Publisher p. vii Introduction p. ix REFERENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY p. 1 INDEX BY NAMES p. 63 INDEX BY TITLES p. 113 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX p. 131 NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER The editors of UFA, an imprint of Congressional Information Service, wish to give special thanks to the staff of the Educational Research Library of the U.S. Department of Education and the many other librarians and institutions mentioned in the acknowledgments below without whose cooperation this microfiche collection of primers would not have been possible. This printed guide accompanying the microfiche collection consists of an introductory essay by Richard L. Venezky, Unidel Professor of Educational Studies at the University of Delaware, followed by a reference bibliography sec- tion, which provides full bibliographic data for each primer, a combined index of author, illustrator, and publisher names, an index by titles, and a chronological index. FROM THE INDIAN PRIMER TO DICK AND JANE AN INTRODUCTION TO THE UFA AMERICAN PRIMERS COLLECTION by Richard L. Venezky University of Delaware Acknowledgments A project of this scope would be impossible without the cooperation and assistance of many curators, librarians, and other specialists in rare books, in addition to individual collectors who loaned materials for filming. Many of the materials represented in this collection were subjected to substantial risk of damage in photographing due to their delicate condition; others which we wanted to include were too fragile for photographic handling. We are grateful for the large number of items that could be filmed and fully understanding of the cases where permission was denied. We would like to thank especially Milbrey L. Jones and Joanne S. Cassell who made available to us the textbook collection of the Educational Research Library at the U.S. Department of Education; Marie E. Korey of the Free Library of Philadelphia who not only provided a large and important group of materials but also made available space for filming items from the Philadelphia area; Marcus McCorison and John Hench of the American Antiquarian Society who provided access to most of the 18th century imprints represented here; Peter VanWingen of the Library of Congress for assistance in filming rare items from the Library of Congress special collections; Charles E. Aston, Jr., for his sustained assistance in identifying and filming materials from the Nietz Collection at the University of Pittsburgh Library; James Green of the Library Company of Philadelphia for assistance in obtain- ing materials from both the Library Company and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Alice Schreyer of the Morris Library at the University of Delaware who provided not only access to rare materials but also encouragement and ad- vice; John Y. Cole at the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress for co-sponsoring and encouraging the project; and Eleanor McD. Thompson of the Winterthur Library, Alan Farstrup and Wendy Wei of the International Reading Association, Nancy Halli of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Hildegard Stephans of the American Philosophical Society, Robert W. Karrow, Jr. of the Newberry Library, John J. Grabowski of the Western Reserve Historical Society, Charles and E. Jennifer Monaghan of Brooklyn, New York, and Richard D. Robinson of Columbia, Missouri, for contributions of materials or assistance in filming. From the Indian Primer to Dick and Jane1 Primers, spellers and ABC books--fragile, cheap and unaesthetic products of the printing trade--once attracted the attention of the powerful and influen- tial. Martin Luther issued in 1525 the first primer ever written in the German language. In the 17th century George Fox, founder of Quakerism, wrote a speller. Noah Webster in the 18th century wrote both a speller and a reader and Leo Tolstoy in the 19th century wrote an ABC book to teach reading to the sons of the Russian peasants. But for every Luther, Fox, Webster or Tolstoy there have been tens of dozens of lesser known or anonymous authors of introductory reading texts. The authorship of The New England Primer, for example, which dominated reading instruction in the American colonies during the 18th century, is not known. This 3" by 5" pamphlet of fewer than 80 pages contrasts markedly with the present-day pre-primers, primers and readers with their long lists of authors and consultants and their multi-color art and correlated teacher editions. Between these two approaches to introductory reading texts are not only almost three- hundred years in time but radical transformations of culture, education, and commerce. Where colonial printers produced for a local market, modern con- glomerates now produce for a national and occasionally international trade. Where a journeyman in 1800 could expect to raise enough capital to buy his own press and print primers, readers and arithmetics without paying royalties or permission fees, millions of dollars are now required for a single mathematics, reading or social studies series. The evolution of the modern reading textbook is in part the history of American education and in part the history of American culture. No thorough text on this history exists, but various parts of it have been delimited. Nietz (1961, 1966) and Carpenter (1963) cover the general history of American textbooks, focusing on authors and textbook content, with extensive coverage of primers, readers and spellers. General histories of reading texts have been done by Reeder (1900), Lamport (1937), N.B. Smith (1965), and Venezky (1987), while a variety of studies exist on specific textbooks; e.g., the hornbook (Tuer, 1896), TheNew England Primer (Ford, 1899; Walters, 1985/86), Noah Webster's blue-back speller (Monaghan, 1983), McGuffey's readers (Westerhoff, 1978; Lindberg, 1976; Minnich, 1936), and the Dick and Jane readers (Luke, 1988). An important literature also exists on the latent or hidden curriculum of reading textbooks, covering such issues as sexism (Zimet, 1972; Oliver, 1974; Kingston & Lovelace, 1977-78), racism (Bierstedt, 1955), achievement motivation (McClelland, 1961; de Charms & Moeller, 1962), and class (Garfinkle, 1954; Mosier, 1974; Luke, 1 Parts of (his introduction have been adapted from earlier publications of the author, listed in the reference list as Venezky (1987), Venezky (in press-a), and Venezky (in press-b). 1988). Elson (1964) provides an extensive analysis of the themes, images, and attitudes reflected by 19th century readers and spellers, as well as arithmetics, histories, and geographies. Children's books, which until almost the Civil War were difficult to distinguish from some schoolbooks, have been catalogued for earlier periods by Rosenbach (1933) and Welch (1972). The 20,000+ collection of textbooks in the U.S. Department of Education Research Library has not been complete- ly catalogued, but a sampler catalogue of approximately 5,000 textbook titles was issued recently (Svobodny, 1985). In general, textbooks have been ignored by major libraries; what collections exist are often uncatalogued. Few libraries have attempted to collect complete series or editions so that tracing even as popular a series as the Dick and Jane readers is exceedingly difficult in that no library in the United States appears to have complete collections of each major edition. The Library of Congress and the American Antiquarian Society have extensive holdings of early American textbooks, as does the British Library. Large, well maintained collections can also be found at Trinity College in Hart- ford, Connecticut (The Henry Barnard Collection), New York University, Col- umbia University/Teachers College, Harvard University, the University of Pitt- sburg (The Nietz Collection), and selected public libraries including the Free Library of Philadelphia and the New York Public Library. Recent work at the American Antiquarian Society in cataloging into RLIN 19th century children's books, including some textbooks, is providing a model which in time other libraries may follow for processing of textbooks. The form and content of the primer at any point in its history has been a function

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